Advisory board

Paulo Casaca is a Portuguese economist, he lectured at the University of the Azores and at the Technical University in Lisbon. He worked in the Portuguese diplomatic representation to the European Union; he was chief of cabinet in the Portuguese government and economics adviser at the socialist fraction in the national Parliament. He was a member of the Azorean Regional Parliament and he represented the Azores at the Portuguese and European Parliaments. He founded the first Amnesty International group in the Azores and has been engaged in the protection of human-rights in the Greater Middle-East, in particular in Iraq and Iran. He is the founder and executive director of the Brussels based international co-operation association, Alliance to Renew Co-operation among Humankind, the South Asia Democratic Forum and the consultancy company on sustainable development, Land and Energy Sustainable Systems (LESSmeansmore). He directed the report “A Green Ray over Iraq”, commissioned by the US based NGO Committee to Study the Organisation of Peace, which was presented to the United Nations. He is the author of “The hidden invasion of Iraq”. Furthermore, he authored many reports and papers addressing freedom, justice and development in the Middle East.

Having completed an MA in Human Rights Law at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Amal established the AHRA along with a number of esteemed colleagues and legal advocates. She is author of Hagar: Before the Occupation, Hagar: After the Occupation and six other literary books in Arabic, the latest published by Al-Saqi. For a full biography, visit Amal’s website.

Professor Henk de Haan is a foreign policy specialist, who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for ten years in the Christian Democratic Party of the Netherlands. For four years he was chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Dutch Parliament. He combined his work as an MP with a professorship in the city of Groningen where he taught economics, specialising in international relations. Whilst an MP, he acted as financial spokesman of his political party and was also involved in areas such as taxes, accountancy law, trade policy and development cooperation. Furthermore, in 2006 he chaired the Committee on Economic Affairs in the Dutch Parliament. He has been engaged in coordinating receptions of foreign delegations in the Netherlands for many years. Professor de Haan works tirelessly on human rights issues in the Middle East. He has managed to raise regional human rights abuse issues in countries such as Iran and Iraq with the Dutch government on many occasions. He was also awarded the decoration “Knight in the Order of Orange Nassau” on 29 November 2006 in the Netherlands.